Retro Throw Back Posts Archives

Hi everyone!

Doing a retro-throwback post today!

Because, you see, in a few weeks I’m going to be giving a speech at the Day of YA Pre-Conference at the Romance Writers of America Convention in San Antonio.

(And, don’t forget, I’ll also be signing in San Antonio on July 23. If you live in the area, please come by!)

So that has got me to thinking about this post that I wrote a couple of years ago. It was true then. It’s true now.

And I hope you like it!

Ally

STUFF I WOULD (AND WOULDN’T) TELL BABY AUTHOR ME IF I COULD GO BACK IN TIME:

A list by Ally Carter

-First and foremost, it is going to be okay. And, by the way, “it” will totally vary.

Maybe it’s sales or copyedits or titles or covers or co-op. Whatever it is, it will not kill you. It will not hurt the people you love. It will not make you an unhappy person unless you give it the power to do so. Do not give it that power.

-Very soon you will sell a book. (Yay!) But then you will become obsessed with promoting that book. Don’t do it. Sure, build a website, go to conferences and do the stuff if you ENJOY doing.

But, seriously, the thousands of dollars you’re getting ready to spend on playing cards and business cards and people who are supposed to help you “get your name out there”. Don’t. Just don’t. Put that money into a savings account instead. Even at less than 1% interest, you’ll get way higher returns there.

-Does that mean that an author shouldn’t try to promote his/her book? No. But understand that you can’t buy your way to the next rung on the ladder. You can only buy the illusion that you’re helping your career. But sometimes the illusion is valuable too.

-So what SHOULD you do if you’re not going to spend a six months making crappy playing cards and other things? Write your next book, that’s what. There’s a saying in this business: nothing sells backlist like front list. So get to writing some more front list.

-I know you don’t know anybody in this business now and that is a little scary. But that’s okay. You are a baby author. You aren’t supposed to know anyone.

And that won’t always be the case. Right now a whole new class of baby authors are being born and a lot of them are going to be your friends someday. You are going to meet at conferences and book fairs and even a few online. You will bond over copyedits and covers and deciding what shoes to wear to BEA.

Some people might say that making friends with these people is going to be good for your career. It isn’t. Making friends with these people is good for your life.

– People are getting ready to start telling you “You should make your book into a movie.” You will hear it every day. This does not make you special. EVERY author hears this every day. Get really, really good at answering (or ignoring) this question.

-And speaking of movies…chill. Yes, you have wanted to be a screenwriter since you were an even babier author, and yes, you will have people contacting you and offering you money and working toward bringing your books to the screen. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It is a huge, massive and very chaotic process. And, most importantly, it’s not YOUR process. All you can do is make more source material for Hollywood to play with, so by all means, do that.

-Don’t quit your day job. Except when you’re finally ready to quit your day job. Look, you’re going to be freaked out about something. Either time or money. You need to decide which worry you are best equipped to handle.

-Whatever you do, don’t get in the habit of doing ____ while you write. Maybe it’s drinking Diet Coke or listening to music or wearing fuzzy socks. Why? Because there will come a day when don’t have your music or your fuzzy socks and you’ve realized that Diet Coke is rotting your teeth and then what are you going to do?

Basically, don’t let yourself get into bad habits. Sure, writing is a lot more fun when you can do it with a box of donuts on your lap, but please don’t. I’m still on the treadmill from your blasted donuts.

-Don’t judge yourself based on how other author’s careers are going. Why? Because 1. You don’t KNOW how their careers are going. Some people have big reputations and moderate sales. Some people fly under the radar and sell off the charts. But, most of all, 2. It doesn’t affect you. It doesn’t change you. All it can do is make you crazy, so do yourself a favor and don’t play that game.

-I’m not going to tell you what trends are coming (and, believe me, trends are getting reading to be a VERY big deal). Why? Because I don’t think that’s best for you (and us) in the long-run.

This business is a marathon, NOT a sprint. And, sure, in a few years books about vampires and dystopians and falling in love with supernatural creatures will be hot. But writing books just because they are (or are going to be) hot won’t make you happy. Writing books you love will make you happy, so do that instead.

Oh, and those hot trends? Eventually they are going to be cold. But loving what you’re writing can last forever. (And, believe it or not, there are some readers who do want funny or sweet or romantic books even if they have to swim against the genre current to find them.)

-And the biggest piece of advice I can give you is this: take a sheet of paper and write down five things that would make you really, really happy in your career. Then write down five things that would be “best case scenario” things. And lastly write five “in your wildest dreams” things.

Keep that list. Remember that list. Because in this business the finish line is constantly moving. One day you really just want an agent. Then it’s a book deal. Then it’s a bestseller. Then it’s a movie. Then it’s a castle next to JK Rowling’s.

In short, appreciate things as they’re happening, remember that once upon a time that thing was a dream of yours and that it’s still a dream for someone. So be grateful every day.

It’s a hard job. But it’s also a good job. And more than anything it’s YOUR dream job so try to keep everything in perspective. Hopefully you and I will get to do this job for many years to come.

-Oh, and one last thing, Baby Author Ally …welcome to the yard, meat.

Hi everyone!

It is the nature of life, I guess, that there will just be some questions a person (especially an author) hears more than others. For me, the two biggies are about books and movies. As many of you know, I have talked about the subject of movies a lot throughout the years, but new readers often miss those posts.

For that reason, I’ve been wanting to try something for several months now, and I think today is the day. So instead of me writing a whole new entry on a subject I’ve covered before, I’m going to post it anew.

Let’s call it a retro throw-back post.

Let’s start with this post from January 2011.

Enjoy.

-Ally

HOW MOVIES HAPPEN
originally posted here on January 8, 2011

Write a book–any book–and I promise someone will say “is there going to be a movie?” Or “Why don’t YOU make a movie” (I guess because I bought that Flip video camera…)

There are a lot of misconceptions about the book business, but nothing compares to the misconceptions surrounding the book-to-movie process.

I’ve had three different film options with three different studios/production companies, and yet I still don’t know everything there is to know about how and why movies happen. But I’m going to share with you today what I do know in the hopes that maybe some of these misconceptions might go away for a day or two.

A DISCLAIMER

The very first thing you need to understand is that no two situations
are the same. This is where a lot of
the misconceptions come from, I think.

I say “authors don’t have the power or money to make a movie themselves” and you say but I read James Patterson is doing that!

I say “authors don’t have any input in the casting process” and you say but what about JK Rowling?

I say “authors have no control over the script” and you say but Susanne Collins wrote the screenplay for Hunger Games!

All of these are excpetions to the rule. All of them. And they’re all very good examples of…

TWO KINDS OF OPTIONS

Type 1: If the book is an established blockbuster on the scale of Harry Potter or Twilight when the movie deal is done then that author has far more control than usual because in that situation Hollywood NEEDS THEM.

If, like Susanne Collins, the author has a background in screenwriting then he or she might even get a shot at the script. (note: the Hunger Games script has been given to a Hollywood screenwriter for rewrites.)

These types of blockbusters are, by definition, very rare. So these types of movie deals are even rarer. They are anomolies, outliers, flukes. And they are the function of power and timing. If the deal is done before the book becomes a world-wide phenomenon, then the usual rules will likely apply (because those were the rules when the terms were negotiated.)

Type 2: If the book is not a mega-success at the time it’s negotiated or if the author is not a well-established movie draw (like Nicholas Sparks) then chances are that the author is not in a position of power.

Of course, sometimes there will be multiple studios interested which certainly helps the author, but for the most part things like script approval or producing credits are completely, 100% off the table.

Why? Because we’re book people, not movie people. Also, frankly, because Hollywood already has too many cooks in its kitchen. It takes millions of dollars to make a movie and with that come about a million hoops to jump through and people to please.

As my film agent explained to me during the Heist Society movie auction “No studio is going to invest millions of dollars in something and let the author keep the right to pull the plug on it.”

That’s why script approval is laughable for someone like me. That’s why–with VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS–no author is ever going to be involved in casting.

Really, it all depends on the terms of your…

OPTION

If there is a studio or production company who likes your book and wants to make a movie from it, they can either buy the film rights outright or they can “option” the film rights.

A film option is like putting the book in layaway. They aren’t buying the right to make it into a movie; they’re buying the right to THINK ABOUT making it into a movie.

They don’t have to make it–not at all. But they have a set period of time (usually a year or 18 months) to think about it and, most importantly, work on a…

SCRIPT

The script is king.

It doesn’t matter how well a book is doing; it doesn’t matter how awesome a book is; what matters in terms of getting a movie made is getting a script that people like and are willing to sign off on.

Because until the script is right, then there’s nothing to take to…

TALENT

This is one more example of how things in this process can and will vary. After all, sometimes books are optioned with some kind of talent “attached” to the project. (Example: Miley Cyrus was attached to WINGS very early on.)

Sometimes the book is optioned with no talent officially attached and, instead, the producers will get the script just right then possibly take it to directors and then the director will work on casting.

There is no right way or best way or “guaranteed” way to get a movie made. Hollywood is not Oz. There are a whole lot of yellow brick roads and every one of them–every. single. one–is at the mercy of…

HEAT and TIMING

Let’s say there’s a really great script based on your favorite book… Let’s say there’s an actress who is amazingly talented, very charismatic, and utterly perferct for the role… So that actress is going to get the role, right?

Maybe. Maybe not. You see, if that actress is already booked up for the next three years, then odds are the studio isn’t going to wait on her.

Or maybe they can get their first choice actress but only at the same time as their third choice leading man?

Maybe your favorite actress had a movie bomb last weekend and the studio now sees her as box office Kryptonite?

Maybe the studio has three projects in the pipeline with another actress, so they’re far more concerned with making HER a big star…

What most people fail to see is that movies aren’t magic. Movies are very expensive investments and very practical endeavors. The producers, executives, and people in charge are going to make their decisions off of more than hair color, is what I’m trying to say.

Who’s hot?
Who’s cold? Who’s getting good buzz for a project that no one has seen
yet and who had a movie that tanked overseas? These are just a few of the factors that will go into the decision. And besides, the odds of the right director, the perfect
actress, the ideal location and leading man all being
available at the exact same time are pretty rare.

Talent matters, don’t get me wrong. But it seems to me that availablity and heat matter more.

SO WHY OPTION ANYTHING IF YOU CAN’T CONTROL THE FINISHED PRODUCT?

I can’t speak for every author, so I’ll just speak for myself.

I love movies. And walking into a dark theater and watching one of my stories up there on the screen is a dream I’ve had for ages. Do I want that movie to be GOOD? Of course. Do I personally have the power to make a movie happen (good, bad or otherwise)? No. I just don’t. And very, very, very few authors ever do.

The other reason most authors are willing to option their material is simple: a movie is basically a 2 hour commercial for the book. And
it’s in most author’s best interest to give the books the chance for that kind of
exposure.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

Movies are made by hundreds of people doing just as many different jobs. And the odds of any movie getting made are oh-so-incredibly rare.

Of the writers I know, a fairly big percentage (I’d say maybe 75 or 80%) have things under option in Hollywood. Only a few will ever see anything actually made. Even once they finish a script and start talking to directors or signing stars, there are still a ton of factors that have to fall into place.

Basically, the odds of getting a movie made are long. The odds of getting a GOOD movie made are miniscule.

But we keep trying…

We keep trying all the time.

-Ally

Letter to Baby Author Me…revisited

Retro throw-back post: How Movies Happen